Two Halves Versus A Whole
by MusicalDefiance
Summary: Following a typical akuma attack, Marinette transforms and visits Adrien as Ladybug out of fear for his well being and her identity being discovered. In doing so, she discovers she's found a way to get better at talking to him and begins to use this to her advantage. A story of frustration, selfishness, and love square straining.
1. Chapter 1

Marinette could feel her heart pounding out of her chest as she felt the few minutes she had left ticking away. Even worse, those minutes were quickly turning into seconds. Noticing the time dwindling, she proceeded to run faster, pushing her short legs to their maximum velocity and feeling the burn from her aching muscles shooting up her calves. Her breath shallowed, and her ears were ringing, but she ignored it all and did with what little blood flow she had in her brain to concentrate on the task at hand. It wasn't like she hadn't been on a severe time frame before, but she was trying oh so desperately to beat this out, or the consequences could be catastrophic.

"Hurry up, Marinette! You're running out of time!" her kwami warned.

"I know!" she shouted.

As she reached the end of her journey, she bolted up the stairs in front of her as fast as she could manage, hoping that she would make it before it was too late. Her eyes grew into saucers as she caught a glance at her watch, only seconds remaining. With all her strength, she nearly screamed as she made it up the last few steps and shot herself through the hallway, practically slamming the door blocking her way into the wall holding it up.

The bell rang as she made her way through the door.

"Marinette, glad you could join us, and you made it just before the tardy bell. Well done." said Madame Bustier, clearly amused.

The class giggled softly (though Chloe did so not so softly), as they took in Marinette's exhausted yet tensed appearance, her body and clothing covered in sweat and her hair plastered to her forehead. The doorknob was still tightly gripped in her hand, now covered in her palm sweat. She took in a few shallow breaths, trying to gulp in whatever air she could with at least some grace to get herself back in order, though without much initial success.

"Yeah… I… Thanks…" she voiced in between desperate breaths, glancing through her bleary gaze at the class in front of her. Most of them were staring at her, some concerned while most were still incredibly entertained by the outburst. She didn't really care though. It was far from the first time that she'd had such an abrupt entrance to the classroom and it absolutely would not be the last time. At this point she was kind of used to the attention she'd been getting from her interruptions.

At least this time she hadn't had to face an akuma that morning, but the accidental oversleeping as a result of either akumas, patrolling, or worse, her homework, was beginning to get a little bit irritating regardless.

Quietly she closed the door behind her, purposefully avoiding looking into her teacher's gaze as she turned back towards the class. She tried not to notice the burning protests from her legs or the annoying taunts from Chloe as she made her way up to her seat, then sighed as she collapsed in it, her arms falling just in time to cradle her head which nearly slammed into the desk. She heard a friendly chuckle beside her as her arms surrounded her head.

"Oversleep again this morning?" Alya asked quietly as Madame Bustier began proclaiming their lesson for the day.

Marinette nodded against her forearms with a whiny groan, closing her eyes within the darkness her shrouding arms allowed her for just a moment to try and regain some of her energy.

She laughed again, patting the top of Marinette's sweaty head lovingly. "You really need to work on that, girl. What is this, like the fifth time in the past two weeks?"

"Six maybe." Marinette replied exhaustively.

"You're ridiculous, Marinette." she laughed. "But if it makes you feel better I brought you something to eat, since I kind of figured this would happen. Consider it my Marinette's survival kit."

Marinette heard Alya place something in front of her arms. Peeking one eye over them, she noticed it was a banana and a store bought packaged chocolate chip muffin. She wasn't normally a fan of the less fresh confectionaries in packages, being a baker's daughter and all, but the gesture made her stomach churn in delight.

"Oh my gosh, thank you." she replied desperately, unveiling her head and grabbing at the banana. She tore into its peel and bit into it with little hesitation which earned a laugh from her best friend. She had wanted to grab something to eat on the way out of the bakery, but the morning rush taking up all the extra food that usually laid about the bakery, as well as the five minutes she had to get to school, were a bit hindering.

"It's no problem, what would you ever do without me?" She said with a proud grin.

Marinette nodded nonchalantly as she enjoyed her banana while Alya looked away from her best friend to take a glance at the desk below them.

"Speaking of oversleeping, you may not be the only one who's a bit behind on their sleep."

Marinette glanced down at whatever had captured Alya's gaze, and only just then noticed the fact that Adrien was sitting below her, head down on the desk and only moving with a very faint up and down motion. She felt her nerves jolt, having not even realized that he had been front and center in the classroom to watch her escapades that morning, but immediately relaxed as she realized that he was clearly out cold. She sighed, relieved at the thought, and continued to stare absentmindedly at his shining blonde hair moving up and down slowly, smiling and silently appreciating the changes his movements made in the lighting the sun cast on it from the window.

Alya snorted, "Were the two of you up late together last night? He only made it in here a minute before you."

Marinette's head shot up. "Wh-wh-what!? Of course not! We weren't talking, what?!" she stammered in a panic filled whisper. Banana nearly sputtered out of her mouth with every word. Her friend stifled back a laugh at her reaction.

"Relax, I'm kidding. Like I'd believe that you managed to talk to Adrien without telling me about it as soon as it happened." she laughed.

Marinette huffed and placed her chin in her hand, looking away from Alya and back down at Adrien. She could too talk to Adrien, maybe, possibly. It just took some… effort. Like a lot of effort. Because often times she could barely get out a sentence in his presence that didn't make her look like an idiot, or at least it felt that way. There were definitely times that she managed alright, she thought anyways, but it could be a struggle sometimes. Still, partly sadistic as it felt, she found herself smiling at the fact that they were both exhausted, so at least they had some sense of commonality. In fact, that was the one thing she felt like she could truly connect with him on, aside from their obvious ties to fashion anyways.

She let her mind wander, trying to imagine the reason that Adrien could have been up so late that he'd oversleep and be so exhausted in the morning. A fashion shoot? Lots of homework to catch up on? A late night rondevu with someone?

She shuddered at the last thought but shook it away.

He was definitely no stranger to being tired in class though. He was late almost as often as she was, which she found funny considering he was always driven to school by his father's employees. Maybe Adrien had a favorite coffee shop or something he liked to stop by before school and the line was always long? It'd definitely attribute to the tardiness record he'd built up. She'd have to find out, maybe she could get him something there, granted she make sure that she manages to get to school on time herself.

The night before for her had been pretty uneventful. The only issue at all was that her patrol had run a little bit later than usual, partly thanks to a late little kitty, but luckily there was no akuma to take care of which certainly made things easier. Ladybug and Chat had taken some time to do some sightseeing as well, which wasn't entirely uncommon but was definitely something that made them stay out later. It wasn't often, but there were definitely occasions where they got to spend time with one another and simply enjoy the nice weather in the city.

Of course, it also didn't help that he was very insistent about not wanting her to leave, which wasn't terribly unusual but sure could get her off track. She didn't necessarily mind though.

While he could get irritating with all the flirting and puns, she still admired him greatly, even if he kept her out late and she had to stay up and finish her homework. It was just an unfortunate circumstance if anything. Her only saving grace that morning had been Tikki yelling at her to get up.

She owed her some cookies for sure, double chocolate chip as an extra bribe to avoid a lecture.

She wondered almost absentmindedly if Chat ever had trouble getting to school on time or had issues with sleeping management too. He was definitely around her age after all, so he almost definitely went to school. She felt like an expert at this point, replaying in her mind just how many late night akuma attacks or patrols had made her late the next morning. She almost felt guilty, thinking that Chat was suffering from their activities as well, but there was literally nothing she could do about it. Hawkmoth was going to do what he would and they unfortunately had to answer the call.

But if nothing else she should at least know if her partner was doing okay.

She made a mental note to ask him about that next time she saw him. As much as she tried to avoid getting into one another's personal lives for the sake of their identities, she still wanted to make sure he was doing well. If nothing else, it was her responsibility as his partner to make sure her other half of the team was in good health.

And considering how droopy her eyes felt, she knew she certainly wasn't that great off either.

Suddenly, Marinette jumped and her eyes shot up as she heard a loud wooden smack that startled her out of her stupor. Looking back down, she noticed Madame Bustier with a ruler in her hand standing at the end of Adrien and Nino's desk with an irritated expression. Adrien had sat up, and even though she could only see him from behind, it was easy to tell he was pretty disoriented.

"Mr. Agreste, I think we'd both find it best if you paid attention during my lesson and didn't spend the whole time snoring. Wouldn't you agree?"

Adrien paused for a moment, trying to get his bearings on the situation, but soon nodded slowly. "Yes, Madame. I apologize for that." he said with a yawn.

She smirked, "Perhaps you need to get your father to loosen up on your modeling schedules, hm? Can't have your busy schedule affecting your grades." she voiced nonchalantly, turning back towards the whiteboard to proceed with her lesson.

Adrien rolled his eyes at the comment, not so much towards her, but more so at the idea of his father giving him any ounce of a break in his ever so busy schedule. He was the biggest reason he and Ladybug had been out so late the night before anyhow. If he hadn't had that dumb evening photoshoot, he wouldn't have been late to patrol, and him being late meant that he just _had_ to spend more time with his lady. Not that he ever minded spending more time with her, ever.

The young model felt a tender hand on his left shoulder, causing him to turn at look at his friend beside him.

"You feeling alright, man?" Nino asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." Adrien yawned, taking a moment to rub his eyes. "I just didn't sleep well last night. I had a photoshoot to do and it kept me out kind of late."

"Bummer, the old man ever consider giving you a break?"

"Not on your life." Adrien scoffed.

"Jeez, even with you this exhausted? That's not cool."

Adrien shrugged, "That's just kind of how it is. It's part of the deal with letting me go to school I think. He doesn't want me here, so he makes me work a ton and exhausts me to the core, maybe in the hopes that I'll quit and just go back to being home schooled." He shook his head and chuckled, "I'll go through this for the rest of my life before I allow that though."

Nino smiled, "Go you, man. Stick it to him. You know we've got your back." He said, clapping his hand against Adrien's back. He glanced up, "Heck, Marinette looks like she's in the same boat as you even."

"Marinette?" Adrien asked.

"Yeah dude, you must have been asleep and missed it. Marinette burst in here like a millisecond before the bell rang. Pretty impressive if you ask me." he chuckled.

Adrien took a second to turn his head just a little bit towards the girl behind him. She was staring off into the distance, clearly not paying attention to the lecture below her, and chewing pieces of what looked to be a mostly eaten banana in her left hand. Her head was lying lazily in her other hand and her eyes were droopy with dark circles underneath them.

He let out a small laugh, noticing the similarity between he and his friend, and the noise brought Marinette's eyes out of her trance and into the gaze of Adrien's. He noticed her and smiled, giving her a small and knowing motion with his hand towards his eyes along with a quick sulking frown.

She picked up on it immediately and almost too excitedly nodded with a smile of her own and a timid shrug. He chuckled a little and turned back around, making Marinette's heart revert back to its previously erratic state.

"Whoa, nice one. You didn't even scream that time." Alya chided quietly, elbowing Marinette in the arm softly.

Marinette barely noticed. Internally she felt like she was overheating, wanting to hyperventilate and scream all at once. Adrien had noticed her, and for the time being that was absolutely all that mattered to her. He was sharing a moment with her, and it thrilled her to no end. Stupid as it was, it was pretty satisfying and empowering to have something to connect with him on for once.

Where should she go from here? Planning their first date? Marriage? Naming their children?

The classroom suddenly shook underneath them, knocking over chairs and items on their desks and causing the students to react and yell out.

Maybe she'd have to worry about it another time.

"What on earth was that?" Madame Bustier voiced as the shaking ended abruptly, quickly scanning the room. "Are you kids alright?"

The class nervously gave a unanimous confirmation, prompting her to nod and move over towards the door to the classroom.

"What could that have been? It felt like it was an earthquake of sorts."

They watched silently as she carefully opened the door and peered her head out into the courtyard at the center of the school's classrooms. Marinette couldn't help but be interested in what was going on herself. Earthquakes were far from common in France and this felt relatively abnormal.

She felt a knot settle in her stomach as to what could have caused the disruption. She could only hope her gut feeling was wrong.

Without warning the classroom shook again, though the pulsation was not nearly as centered as it had been before. The walls to the left of the room shook more than the floor had been.

Whatever was causing the shaking was moving.

"You all need to shut up!" a loud voice yelled from outside.

A few curious classmates began to approach the door alongside their teacher, Marinette working her way towards being one of them alongside Alya and their two classmates sitting beneath them. They couldn't see very well through the small space their teacher allowed through the crack in the door, but Marinette managed to push her way through the others just enough to see a figure standing in the courtyard below the railing of the hallway.

It was a girl, probably a little bit older than Marinette, and with her back to their upstairs classroom Marinette could only make out that she was wearing a skintight black suit that looked as though it was made of some kind of leather. She had a loose brunette ponytail on the back of her head, and something was jutting out from both of her shoulders that she couldn't quite tell what they were.

Marinette's heart began to sink. Almost undoubtedly, she was staring straight into the back of a morning akuma. Just what she needed on a day she was already tired.

Madame Bustier noticed the girl and decided to step out of the classroom, earning protests from her students behind her as they tried to grab at her jacket and pull her back into the classroom and away from the obvious threat. She persisted and managed to tear her way out of her students' grasp, then walked over to and leaned over the railing.

"Young lady! What is the meaning of this! Are you the one making all of this noise!?" She yelled.

"Madame Bustier! Get away from there!" Marinette yelled.

As she spoke, the oddly dressed girl turned and looked up at the classroom, allowing Marinette to see her much more clearly. Along her chest were bolts of electricity it looked like, or maybe they were soundwaves. They were moving up and down at a fairly consistent rate and were pumping in unison with the same current resting on her black butterfly shaped mask. She could see now that the things resting on her shoulders were actually headphone jacks, and in her hand was a giant pair of headphones she lazily swung about next to her. Wires spread across her arms and multicolored lights lit up in time with the beats on her chest and boots, giving her a very rave-like vibe.

She was akumatized, and was certainly not a very happy akuma at that.

"How many times do I have to tell you all to be quiet!" She yelled, throwing up her hand and releasing some sort of loud seismic wave from an electric blue circle resting in the middle of her palm. It hit their teacher instantly, pushing her up against the wall on the outside of the classroom with a great force before she fell to the ground. The class screamed and immediately started to make their way out of the classroom to escape the school building or find shelter from the akuma, causing her to smirk evilly and run after them.

Marinette stayed behind, ducking down and moving to help her teacher, reaching out for her and placing reaffirming hands on her shoulders. Her hair was disheveled from its previously pinned bun and her clothes were now wrinkled and bunched, but she looked relatively unharmed.

"Madame, are you okay?" she questioned.

Madame Bustier looked up fearfully, nodded, and began to try and speak, but then looked at Marinette in shock as no words came out of her mouth. She tried again and again but no sound would leave her lips. She looked into Marinette's eyes helplessly.

"Oh my gosh, your voice!"

The woman grabbed her throat in dismay, her face riddled with terror and confusion.

"Relax," Marinette said in response, hovering her hands in front of her in a calming motion. "It'll be fine, once the akuma's gone you'll be fine."

Her teacher nodded again, and Marinette held out her arm for her to grab so they could stand up together. Once stable, Marinette put on her brave face and instructed her teacher to make her way out of the school with as many students as she could, as quietly as possible, and that she'd work on gathering other students to find a way out. Madame Bustier protested, or at least tried to, but Marinette made it clear that she wouldn't be able to help much with her voice gone. Reluctantly, she agreed and ran off.

She could feel something poking her side as her teacher hiked down the stairs, and Marinette knowingly took a step back into the classroom and closed the door. Just as she was about to talk to Tikki, she turned around and saw a sight that made her jump.

"Adrien!" she mouthed in a panicked whisper.

Right in front of her she could see her crush slumped on his desk, still barely moving up and down in even intervals. Realizing he hadn't even noticed her, she cautiously moved around him, peering around his head to see his face, which she had no luck doing as it was hidden within the confines of his arms. He was completely out cold, yet again.

She grimaced. _Even during an akuma?_ She thought pensively, ignoring the thoughts that pressed at her mind wishing she could join him.

She felt Tikki prod at her again and quickly tiptoed away from Adrien to the back of the classroom, where hopefully with him asleep he wouldn't be able to hear her. She opened up her handbag at her hip and the small red kwami burst out in a panic.

"Marinette, come on! We have to get moving! The akuma's attacking the school!"

"Shhhh!" she hushed "Tikki, Adrien's asleep down there, I don't want to wake him up with you here."

She glanced down and her eyes widened. "Oh, sorry." she said in a much quieter voice. "But we need to transform, right now! We don't have time to waste!"

"What? I can't transform now. Adrien's right there!" she whisper yelled, motioning towards him below.

"You have to Marinette! We don't have time! Your classmates are in danger!"

She looked down at him with a perturbed glance, eyeing his slowly moving body with scrutiny. Even with all the noise going on around him and outside he still hadn't stirred a bit.

She sighed, "Okay, fine. But we need to be quiet."

"No problem. Let's get moving."

She nodded, "Spots on."

Tikki cheered quietly, allowing herself to spin into Marinette's dotted earrings. Merely seconds later Marinette was surrounded by pink light, wielding her red suit for the first and hopefully last time for the day. She groaned, wishing things that morning could have gone a fair share more smoothly, but she had a job to do now.

Now Ladybug, she opened her eyes and glanced back down to her sleeping audience, only to be shocked as she noticed his face had turned out of his arms and was facing her just enough for him to have had a quick glance at her transformation. He definitely still looked asleep, but she couldn't be sure that the light from her transformation hadn't disturbed him enough to open his eyes and see what was happening. For all she knew, he could be faking being asleep. She could feel an internal panic stir up inside of her.

The school began to shake again, and she could hear distant screams below her. Now wasn't the time to worry about things like that.

Quickly, she made her way to the bottom of the classroom, once again eyeing the gorgeous boy in front of her. As much as she admired how cute he was asleep, she knew that leaving him there was definitely not safe, especially if he started snoring by chance. He didn't need an akuma being his rude awakening, so it may as well have been her. She cringed at the imagined image in her head of him becoming irritated with her when she woke him up, but that unfortunately couldn't stop her.

"Adrien," she said softly, giving Adrien's shoulder a timid yet gentle push with her gloved hand.

She was met with an agitated whine from him as he moved his face back into the darkness and pushed his head further under his arms. She jumped as he moved, though she relaxed as she noticed he remained pretty motionless afterwards. She frowned, realizing that whether he was pretending to sleep or not, gentle was definitely not going to work. She needed to get him awake though, and fast.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the same ruler that Madame Bustier had used on his desk a bit earlier.

She sighed, raising her eyes to the ceiling exasperatedly as she moved over to the ruler and grabbed it. Moving back to the desk and lifting the ruler, she whined and silently prayed Adrien wouldn't hate her for what she was about to do.

 _SMACK!  
_ "Aaaah! Sorry! I'm awake!" Adrien yelled with a start, shooting off the desk and raising his hands above his head.

It took him a second to realize it wasn't his teacher standing in front of him.

"M-Morning, sleepyhead." Ladybug said, trying to remain confident, yet the nerves were falling through the cracks of her ruse.

Her voice enveloped him like velvet regardless.

"L-Ladybug?" Adrien stammered, feeling a blush creep its way onto his face.

His facial reaction was not comforting. She couldn't tell if he was just happy to see her or if he now knew something that he wasn't telling her. She still had a job to do though and couldn't start worrying yet.

"I'm sorry!" she shouted on impulse. "Err, um… S-Sorry for the rude awakening, I didn't think I would be able to get you up otherwise." Her hand instinctively scratched the back of her head to distract her from the goosebumps pushing under her skin tight suit.

"Uh, no problem." he said, swallowing for no particular reason.

It was a little abnormal for him to interact with Ladybug without his suit. He had only done it a handful of times, and being without his alter ego made it a little bit more difficult to hide his terribly apparent nerves getting the better of him as he looked into her beautiful blue eyes. Trying to distract himself, he glanced around for a moment to regain his bearings, only to notice that the classroom was completely empty.

"Whoa what happened? Don't tell me I slept through all of school." he said, panicked.

There would be _nothing_ more mortifying than Ladybug being called by his father to collect him because he never came home.

Ladybug grimaced, "Not quite." she replied, noticeably still a bit unnerved. "We have a bit of an issue going on, and I can't leave you here."

"Um, an issue?" Adrien asked, feeling slightly embarrassed as he rubbed his eyes.

She nodded, "There's an akuma going on a rampage outside, and she's attacking students. We need to get you to safety as soon as possible."

Adrien's eyes went wide. An akuma? Here? Now?

What a way to start the day.

He only then started to notice the persistent prodding and scratching at his stomach and realized Plagg had probably been trying to get his attention for a little while now. _Great,_ he silently chastised, nagging himself for falling asleep on the job, quite literally.

He had to get out of there and transform, fast.

"Oh! Um, okay, I guess we need to get out of here." Adrien suggested.

Ladybug nodded, "Definitely, I'll escort you outside."

"What? No, you don't have to do that, I'm fine." Adrien protested, standing up from his desk and moving away from her and towards the door. "I don't want to get in your hair. I know you have a job to do."

Ladybug moved towards him persistently. "Not a chance. You just woke up and I can see how tired you are, so I want to make sure you're alright. Besides, Chat Noir's not here yet and I'd rather not start trying to fight the akuma until I have him here to assess the situation with me."

Adrien groaned internally, realizing that he was impeding Ladybug's progress on saving the school. It certainly wasn't the first time either, and knowing his track record it wouldn't be the last. Not only that, but knowing his lady, he wouldn't be getting away from her protection as quickly as he'd like. She was persistent and stubborn, not that he didn't like that. He always admired how much she put herself into danger to help others, even if it wasn't exactly helping him or her at the moment, unbeknownst to her.

Not to mention that she looked a bit disgruntled for whatever reason, and he wasn't about to let that persist on his lady's face.

Defeated, he hung his head and nodded, figuring the sooner he did as she wanted the faster he could get out there and help her.

"Alright, if you say so." he agreed, albeit reluctantly. He ignored the irritated poke from Plagg under his shirt.

She nodded. "Great, follow close behind me, and keep as quiet as possible." she instructed sternly, making a shushing motion over her lips. He nodded once, and the two crouched down and proceeded out the doorway to the classroom.

Glancing about as they made their way down the stairs a few feet from the door, Adrien could see that the hallways were pretty deserted, the whole school being shrouded in an eerie silence that made him uncomfortable. Ladybug stayed vigilant as ever in the meantime, doing her best not to let the quiet environment, nor the proximity of Adrien to her, interrupt her focus. Marinette could freak out about being around Adrien later, Ladybug had to work on getting him out of there first. The last thing she wanted was for Adrien to get hurt by an akuma, and it definitely wouldn't be happening under her watch.

Still, she couldn't help but be flustered by the situation at hand, which was definitely not making keeping focused easier. The worry that Adrien might have seen her transform continued to plague her thoughts.

As they moved, they could occasionally hear yelling and the loud noise of the akuma's seismic waves attacking the students causing whatever noise was irritating her. Ladybug shuddered, worried about her peers being attacked but knowing she couldn't do much without Chat helping her. Sure, she was the one who could purify the akuma, but without him there to fight alongside her she felt pretty useless. You can't perform a duet without both performers after all.

"Wow, that one was rough." Adrien said, just after another schoolwide earthquake shook the floor underneath them. He moved closer beside her as they continued their slow walk through the hallway.

"Y-yeah, it was." she replied, still trying her best to keep her mind clear.

"I really hope my friends are okay. I remember that Marinette was really tired this morning. I hope she and the others made it out okay." he mentioned absentmindedly.

She internally jolted.

 _Why did he just mention my name oh god?_ she thought in a panic.

"Uh, some students made it out earlier as I came inside. I-I'm sure your friends made it out okay." she stammered.

Adrien fell concerned as he noticed the shakiness in her voice. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Perfectly, why?" she said, not so convincingly.

"It's just you always seem so confident and positive, but right now you seem kind of worried."

She flinched. "I'm okay, really. It's just kind of a rough start to my morning."

Adrien's heart dropped. "Is it because Chat Noir isn't here?"

She paused, taking the opportunity to swing the truth in her favor. "Kind of."

"You don't feel like he's ditching you, do you?"

"No, not at all!" she said hurriedly, having to correct her voice's volume once the words left her mouth. "No, it's just… I really don't like being in these situations without him, especially when they're this intense. I hope he shows up soon."

"I'm sure you'd be alright."

"I'm not." she rebutted, finding herself growing slightly agitated.

"But what do you need him for? You seem to get along fine on your own plenty." he replied somewhat guiltily.

"I completely disagree." she said sternly, surprising him with the lack of hesitation in her speech. "Chat and I are a team, it's not just me. And when he's not here it makes me feel a little uneasy, but he's going to show up soon, I'm sure of it." she added confidently.

Before either of them could say anything else, they heard something small and quiet to their left.

"Ladybug." whispered a voice from across the hallway.

Looking to their left, Adrien and Ladybug noticed a quiet and scared young girl in the doorway of a classroom with a gaggle of other students behind her. They looked shaken.

"Hey," she said soothingly, making her way over to them with Adrien close behind her. "Are you guys alright?"

The girl nodded, "We're fine. We barely made it out of our class. Sarah suddenly burst in the room and attacked our teacher and we didn't know what to do."

"Sarah? Is that the girl that was akumatized?" Adrien asked from behind.

Another boy nodded, "Yeah. Our teacher told her to take off her headphones when class started and she got really huffy, so she got sent to the principal's office. She seemed really upset this morning, like she was just really cranky."

Ladybug looked back, "That must be what got her akumatized. She's just been irate and wanted everyone to leave her alone."

"I can sympathize, I've been a little behind on my sleep myself and I can get kind of cranky." Adrien said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

Ladybug frowned sympathetically at the comment but turned her attention back to the class. "Don't worry, I'll get you all out of here. We just need to be really quiet and make our way to the entrance of the school. Do you think you guys can do that?" she asked. The students nodded.

She looked back at Adrien, "Mind helping me heard these guys out of here?" she asked with an apprehensive smile.

Adrien felt the blush envelop his cheeks even more than they had before. Ladybug was asking _him_ for help? Not as Chat, but as _Adrien_? He felt as though he could walk on clouds he was so light.

"Uh, yeah, sure!" he said, a bit too loudly. Ladybug gave him a spooked glance at the loudness of his voice and he immediately quieted it, feeling embarrassed.

She smiled towards the class confidently. "Alright, let's lead these guys out of here. Just a few at a time so that we don't make too much noise."

Adrien nodded and stood up alongside her, the two separating some to begin leading the students towards the entrance of the school. They did so a few at a time so that they could make their escape quietly and not attract the akuma with the noise of many footsteps. One by one Ladybug coaxed them out of the doorway, using her arms to lead them over to Adrien across the hall from her, who would then lead them towards the school's entrance. A few on occasion were too scared or nervous to move too much further past the door, but with Adrien's charm, he was able to coax them towards the entrance of the school with relative success.

Ladybug smiled admiringly at him as she watched him lead student after student towards the doorway as she sent them out, loving how helpful and heroic he was being. He could have practically been Chat Noir.

 _If only_ , she thought playfully.

Just then, one of the students tripped as she ran out of the classroom, having been a little too quick on her feet as she made her way out. She fell down onto her stomach, groaning a little louder than she meant to as her body hit the ground. Immediately Adrien and Ladybug's eyes met in shock as they gasped in unison at the girl, covering their mouths as soon as the noise left them.

Almost instantly they could hear someone shouting from across the courtyard of the school.

"Who's that! I thought I told you to be quiet!"

"Our cover's blown, get out of here, now!" Ladybug shouted at the rest of the class.

Without a second to waste, the rest of the class made their way out of the building at blinding speeds, yelling and making quite a commotion as they ran past Adrien and Ladybug. They could hear the akumatized girl making her way through the school towards them, the loud electro music pumping through her headphones growing in volume as she got closer.

"Adrien!" Ladybug shouted, looking back at the boy behind her. "You need to get out of here with the rest of them!"

"What about you?" he asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine! Chat will be here soon!"

 _At least I hope so._ she thought.

Adrien hesitated following her words, glancing to the left of her as he was now able to see the girl the class dubbed as Sarah making her way towards the two of them. She was definitely akumatized, covered in black leather and pumping blue sound waves on her chest and iconic Hawk Moth butterfly mask. He noticed that she was lifting her hand up in front of her, and he squinted to see what she was trying to do with it.

"I said shut up!" the girl yelled from across the way, and suddenly a beam of seismic ways shot out of her left palm towards Ladybug.

Adrien gasped, "Ladybug! Watch out!"

Ladybug looked behind her to see a wave of blue shooting towards her at unbelievable speeds. Before she even had a moment to gasp, the seismic waves and something heavy crashed into her, and she was shoved into the wall close to the entrance of the school.

She groaned in pain, grabbing at her head and rubbing her now aching forehead from the headache the soundwave immediately supplied her. Remembering what just occurred, she gasped and grabbed at her throat, only to notice that her voice could still be heard.

"What the…? How did-?" she asked, only then beginning to notice that Adrien's body had crashed on top of her in the impact.

"Oh my gosh, Adrien!" she yelled in a panic, helping him off her so she could grab at his shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Adrien nodded, rubbing his head and moving his mouth to assure her that he was fine. His eyes widened when he realized that not a word of what he said actually exited his mouth.

"Oh no, you too?" she asked dejectedly. "Adrien, you didn't have to do that."

Adrien smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Watch out!" They heard Adrien's voice yell, followed by the maniacal laugh of a girl. The two teenagers looked up to see the akumatized Sarah looking down at them from a few feet away, an amused evil smirk gracing her lips.

"Gotta say, kid. That was pretty funny. Heroic and charming, sure, whatever, but definitely more funny than anything." she chided, addressing an unimpressed Adrien.

Ladybug growled, "What's your problem, Sarah! Why are you attacking students?"

The girl growled back, "I'm not Sarah, I'm Volume." she proclaimed proudly, pushing her thumb towards her chest. "And it's for exactly what you're doing right now, making too much noise. Everyone just needs to be quiet and leave me alone. And sorry, Ladybug, but that includes _you!_ " she shouted, shooting another seismic wave at the two.

Without a second thought, Ladybug grabbed Adrien and jumped out of the way, getting the two to the safety of the school's entrance and away from the seismic attack that shook the wall they had just been next to. Ladybug pushed Adrien out the door only a moment later.

"Run! Get out of here!" she commanded.

Adrien was about to try and protest before he felt the same insistent scratching from earlier at his side. Now remembering that he still needed to transform, he nodded once before shooting down the school's large staircase at the entryway to find a safe space to do so.

As he ran off, Ladybug turned her attention back to Volume, noticing that she was about to unleash another attack. Immediately she jumped out of the way just before another seismic wave shot at her, and then again when another one came her way.

"Stand still!" Volume shouted angrily, unleashing her waves again and again in an attempt to land one of them on Ladybug. Each time Ladybug narrowly managed to jump out of the way, only angering her further.

"This needs to stop, Sarah! I know you've got to be in there somewhere!" she yelled back, releasing her yoyo towards the akuma. Volume easily batted it away with her left hand, still attempting to land a blow onto the masked heroine in the midst of her motion.

"I told you my name's Volume! And I'll never stop until everyone learns to keep their mouths shut and _leave me alone!_ "

With her last words she increased the size of her seismic attack by using both hands, barely missing Ladybug as she hurriedly pushed herself out of the wave's fire.

She gasped for breath, realizing fighting in such a closed off space wasn't going to be getting her anywhere, and tried to make her way out of the school so she could get better ground. Volume followed her with ease though, blocking her exit and forcing Ladybug to backtrack further into the school, essentially trapping her as she continued to dodge her attacks.

 _Chat, where are you, you crazy cat?_ Ladybug thought desperately as she ran as fast as she could away from the laughing akuma.

* * *

Adrien quickly made his way over to an abandoned alleyway, gasping for air all the way and feeling somewhat disturbed at the fact that he couldn't hear any noise he made at all. Finding a spot to hide, he made sure no one was anywhere near him as he slid into the shadows between the two buildings and behind a dumpster. Glancing right, then left, then right again, he decided the coast was clear and moved his overshirt to let out his kwami.

"Man, that sure took you long enough, didn't it, Sleeping Beauty?" Plagg commented snidely as Adrien released him.

He sighed, giving the kwami an irritated look and finding himself wishing Volume's powers had affected him too. A true shame indeed.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue? Or should I say, akuma got your tongue?" Plagg laughed.

Adrien groaned silently. They really didn't have time for this. He would do whatever he could to get Plagg to cool it with the jokes later, but now wasn't the time.

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien mouthed confidently, the silence earning no response from his ring. He gasped, staring at the ring in disbelief and horror.

Plagg rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, I hear you." he said, obediently whipping himself into Adrien's ring regardless.

In a quick flash of green, Adrien was finally cloaked in his Chat Noir identity and he wasted no time finding his way back over to the school, using his baton to catapult himself over the buildings he had run past to get away. Overhead, he could see that students continued to run out of the school as it shook with each of Volume's attacks. Chat cringed as he thought about Ladybug having to fight her off all by herself, worry coating him like a mollasses.

As he dropped back down at the entrance, he could see through the doors that Ladybug and Volume had moved over to the back of the school's courtyard, Ladybug narrowly dodging each of her attacks. As she jumped, he watched Volume throw out her giant headphones which easily latched onto Ladybug's ankle, earning a silent gasp from him as he watched Volume pull her violently down to the ground.

Just before Volume was about to blast one of her waves at the fallen Ladybug, Chat ran to her and slammed his extended baton into the side of Volume, sending her shooting towards the back wall of the school. He smiled as his momentum from the unexpected attack slid him over to his lady.

"Nice one, kitty. Sure took you long enough to get here though." she said as she freed herself from the headphone's wires.

Chat Noir smirked, giving a small bow as he held out his hand to her and mouthed the words, "And a good morning to you as well, my lady." before remembering that he still couldn't speak. He recoiled almost immediately., praying she didn't notice

"Oh no, how did you get hit too?" Ladybug asked, pulling herself off the ground with his hand.

Well, she noticed.

Chat Noir shrugged nervously, feeling nervous sweat start to form on the back of his neck as he tried to motion a quickly plotted story where he was blocking the way for a pack of students. Luckily for him Ladybug seemed to buy it because she rolled her eyes playfully in response.

He figured he wasn't being completely dishonest anyways.

"Be more careful next time, kitty cat. Though I will say, the no talking is kind of an improvement." she chided with a hand on her hip, smiling bemusedly.

Chat pouted at her, but their banter was interrupted by another seismic wave from Volume coming between them. They jumped out of the way just in time, each turning to stare back at the akuma before them.

"Oh great, now there's two of you? Guess I'll have to shut both of you up." Volume sneered, swinging her released headphones with more speed.

Just then, the two heroes could see the iconic mask of Hawkmoth glow across Volume's eyes, earning them a quick moment to strategize.

"Chat, we have to destroy her headphones, I'm pretty sure that's where the akuma is." Ladybug insisted.

Chat nodded once, proactively aiming his baton at the large headphones Volume swung in her hand. He extended it, trying to stab them against the wall, which he did successfully to one of them. Immediately the sound from one of the speakers in the earbud died out, leaving the electro music spewing out of them to be a little bit less bassy than it had been before, but no akuma flew from it. The noise broke Volume from her trance as she glanced at the now broken earbud behind her in shock, immediately angering her by the sight of it.

"No, Chat! Her real headphones!" Ladybug corrected, pointing to her ears.

Chat smiled back, embarrassed, and Ladybug rolled her eyes again.

"You'll pay for that one!" Volume yelled, sending another loud blast Chat Noir's way. He jumped and dodged it with his catlike reflexes, pulling back his baton and swinging it in her direction yet again, though missing swing after swing. He gritted his teeth, yelling out silently with each attempted blow or kick, though never making decent contact with any of them.

As he distracted her, Ladybug moved behind them, scouting out ways to take her out long enough to grab at her headphones. Above them, she noticed that the railings that lined the balconies surrounding the courtyard falling around and on top of her could be a fairly ideal way to trap her just long enough to grab them.

"Chat, use your catacalysm on the railing!" she shouted, pointing above her.

Chat nodded and shot his way up to the balconied hallway above them, hanging from his legs off the bars connected to the floor. Raising his arm above his head, he attempted to shout out "Catacalysm!" and placed his hand on the bars of the rails, only being reduced to awkwardly blinking when he noticed the power wasn't responding at all to his silence.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me!" Ladybug shouted, dodging another attack as she swung her yoyo towards Volume.

Chat threw up his hands in exasperation, jumping back down from his perch to try and take the aim off of Ladybug. Volume laughed as he reached the floor.

"Cat got your tongue, Chat Noir? What a shame. It'll only be that much easier to take your miraculouses then!" she shouted, blasting another wave at him. Chat rolled his eyes at the joke, wishing he could say he'd heard it before and that neither time was clever.

"I never thought I'd say this, cat, but you're actually more annoying when you can't talk." Ladybug scoffed.

He gave her a cheeky smile in return, the "I knew you couldn't resist my voice" quip not even needing to be said. Volume took the opportunity to try and catch him off guard but luckily continued to miss.

Finding a quick moment to spare in Chat's presence distracting Volume, Ladybug threw up her yoyo with a shout of "Lucky charm!" The yoyo sprung into the air with a burst of pink light, and then fell down to Ladybug alongside a new item, a red and black spotted megaphone with a small microphone attached by a thick black wire.

"A megaphone, huh?" she asked herself, glancing at Volume as she chased after Chat Noir. An idea sprung to her in that moment, and she made her way over to Chat as he ran from her.

"Move over behind us and be ready to snatch her headphones!" Ladybug yelled over the blasts around them. Chat nodded again, turning away from them and running the opposite direction, which luckily didn't stop Volume's trudge towards Ladybug.

She turned herself away from Volume as she ran, hiding the megaphone in front of her body and waiting until she could see Chat Noir was where she wanted him out of her peripheral vision. At the perfect moment, Ladybug waited until she could hear Volume unleash another one of her seismic waves, and with quick movements she forced the microphone out into the way of the wave, holding the megaphone in front of her as she turned towards Volume.

The wave threw her hand back, but luckily it shot directly into the microphone and out of the megaphone, just as Ladybug had predicted. Volume was hit almost instantly and was flung back in the direction of Chat. She impacted with the floor, sliding against it and landing almost directly at the silver toes of his feet.

Chat smiled down at her smugly, seeing the electric blue headphones in the girl's ears and ripping them out, carrying her phone with them. He threw them at Ladybug and she caught them in her hand, throwing them to the ground and smashing the earbuds with her foot. Sure enough, a small black butterfly made its way out of the wiring.

"That's enough for today, akuma!" she yelled, quickly opening the compact of her yoyo and flinging it at the black butterfly. She caught it easily and quickly released it once her yoyo returned to her hand, allowing it to fly away from her.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" she shouted, throwing up the megaphone and watching it burst into a swarm of luck bringing ladybugs. All around them the damage from the school was repaired, and Ladybug watched with delight as swarms made their way outside of the building to renew the voices of those who had them stolen. Even more delight came as her partner was swarmed as well.

"Woo boy, feels good to be back!" he shouted, stretching himself out towards the ceiling, then grabbing at and staring down at his chest. "I sure missed you, voice."

"I dunno, it was kind of a nice break not having it around." Ladybug mentioned.

He smirked, "Sure, but I know you'd miss me telling you how much I adore you after a while. Just admit it, Bugaboo."

"If you say so, kitty." she said with a smile, gently touching the tip of his nose.

A small voice from below them caught their attention and Ladybug watched with concern as the black power of the akuma left the body of Volume, returning her to her original form of Sarah. She was disheveled, her brown hair splayed out in a messy ponytail and her comfortable looking black sweatshirt and pants wrinkled and unkempt. It looked like she'd had a more rough morning than even Marinette.

"Ugh, oh god. What the heck happened?" she asked, rubbing her head as she pushed her back off of the floor.

"You were akumatized, but you're okay now." Ladybug said, offering her hand to the teenager sitting in front of her.

"Oh no, I'm sorry! I was just so cranky this morning!" she apologized frantically as Ladybug helped her up. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

"Don't worry too much about it." replied Chat, picking up and handing back her repaired cellphone and headphones. "It happens sometimes, just be sure to try not to take out your bad morning on everyone else. I'm pretty sure if I did that as often as I do, I'd have no friends at this point."

Sarah laughed while Ladybug winced at the comment, realizing that maybe her inquisition towards his lack of sleep may have actually been true. Adrien first, and now Chat too? Why did everyone she cared for have to suffer from such an affliction?

The thought of Adrien struck a nerve in her brain.

"Oh my gosh, Adrien! I never got to see if he was okay!" she shouted, readying to bolt out the door to find him.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hang on, m'lady." Chat quickly intervened, grabbing at her wrist before she ran off. "Now's not exactly the time to go find him."

"Why not?" she asked, tearing her wrist away from his grasp.

A beep from her earrings provided the answer.

"That." he said.

Ladybug groaned. "But I need to find him, and I need to make sure everyone's okay."

Chat shook his head, "Look, you worry about getting out of here so no one sees you. I'll take care of everything over here and make sure everyone at the school's alright."

"But Adrien-" she protested.

"Is totally fine." he promised, wishing he could assure her better. "I'll make sure he and everyone else are fine. Now get out of here before your time runs out."

Ladybug sighed as she heard her earrings beep yet again, only one minute remaining.

"Alright. Thank you, Chat. I'll talk to you soon."

He smiled cheekily, "Looking forward to it, m'lady."

She smirked, propelling her yoyo forward and slinging herself away from the school. As she did so, she could still hear Chat making the comment about how his mornings had been causing him to be a bit more irritable than he'd liked, which was bothering her to no end. She hated that she was right and really needed to talk to him about it.

But the one thing left weighing on her mind was Adrien, which wasn't incredibly abnormal. It was different this time though, and left a ball of dread sitting in her stomach.

* * *

Welp, finally making this happen. I have a lot planned for this story and I plan to actually get it finished. I hope you all enjoy it as we begin this wild ride.

A huge thank you and credits to australet789 for allowing me to use her incredible akumasona as my opening akuma to this story. She inspired me so much and I just wanted so desperately to use her, and she was nice enough to allow me to do so! Please check her tumblr, she's an incredible artist!


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, Marinette. You've been pacing around your room for about an hour. It's time to tell me what's wrong." Tikki announced, finally annoyed.

Her large blue eyes moved right and left with Marinette's careful pacing across her wooden bedroom floor. She had let Marinette walk across the room without a word for a while, choosing at first to ignore it altogether, since it wasn't entirely uncommon to see her so focused on nothing, but this time she was going at her pace a bit excessively.

Marinette looked up in surprise at her kwami's voice, taking a moment to straighten her stance and peer over at the small red bug floating over her desk. She smiled sheepishly, unlatching her hands from behind her back and holding them in front of her body defensively.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." she replied, her eyes twitching a little.

Tikki raised an eyebrow, "Sorry's not really covering an explanation. What's wrong?"

Marinette looked at her for a moment, her nervous smile still plastered to her face, but noticing Tikki's unmoving expression she sighed and released it after a moment. She wasn't going to drop the subject.

"It's Adrien." she replied despondently.

"When is it not?" Tikki laughed, flying over to Marinette's shoulder. "You'll need to be more specific."

Marinette peered to her left at the small kwami, embarrassed as nerves coursed through her body. It had been quite a few hours since their fight with Volume that morning had ended, and luckily for her school had been cancelled for the rest of the day following the disturbance. But since then a thought couldn't shake her mind. She'd been fretting over it, letting it gnaw at her as she responded by biting at her bottom lip and the inside of her cheek, both now raw and red.

"It's just, I never checked on him to make sure he was okay after the akuma attack this morning. I told him to run and never saw him afterwards. I never got to see if he was alright."

Tikki rolled her eyes with a smile, "I'm sure he's fine, Marinette."

"But what if he isn't?"

"Why wouldn't he be?" She replied. "The akuma attack is over, and we used the miraculous cure to take care of everything. Everyone got their voice back and the damage to the school was all fixed. Everything's fine."

Marinette pouted, knowing that Tikki was right, but the thought still loomed over her and blanketed every other thought in her mind. She felt guilty, like she had left him alone in a dangerous situation. It felt like she had abandoned her duty to protect him, especially considering he jumped in the way of Volume's seismic wave to protect her. She winced at the thought of it piercing him and stealing his voice, remembering the pained look he had on his face as he laid on top of her. She could have taken the hit for him but she wasn't paying attention. He had been put in danger because of her. Would he forgive her for that? Would he not like Ladybug anymore?

She scrunched her face at the thought. Did he even really like her in the first place? He didn't really know her.

It wasn't just that though. The situation from that day had made her more than uncomfortable to say the least. With her having to transform right under his nose, and also having to deal with being right next to him for at least ten minutes all the while trying to keep her cool, she was definitely a bit more stressed out than usual.

And she was definitely worried that he might have noticed her transforming. She honestly had no idea.

"I just… I'm..."

"Obsessed with him and can't get him out of your head? Yes, I know."

Marinette glared and pouted at the kwami as she laughed and flew her way back over to sit on Marinette's desk.

"Like I said, Adrien's probably fine, Marinette. You need to relax."

Marinette groaned, throwing her arm dramatically over her eyes as she crash landed backwards onto her chaise. "I know." she whined. "But I haven't seen him since he ran off. And he jumped in front of me too when she tried to hit me. I wish I had been paying attention, I could have saved him." She could feel herself starting to unravel. "He could have gotten really hurt. What would have happened if I hadn't been there to get him out? Would he be okay? Is he mad at me because I sent him off? What if he hates me now!"

"Marinette!" Tikki shouted, flying in front of her face and grabbing the bridge of her nose. "Calm down! You're acting silly."

Marinette took a deep breath, releasing it slowly through her lips and closing her eyes. Opening them again, Tikki was still pressing her small stubs against her nose, looking concerned but still slightly irritated. While Tikki was used to Marinette acting a bit irrationally at times, it was a little unusual this time around. She couldn't understand what was bothering her so much, it wasn't like she hadn't interacted with Adrien before, and even as herself being awkward as doofy at times she still never overanalyzed everything nearly as heavily. Something about their interactions this time around though had Marinette turned into a frazzled mess. There was no reason for it though. Tikki had been there, she'd seen it all, there was nothing incredibly out of the ordinary, aside from him helping her out while Chat was gone.

But there was something, still _something_ there, that Tikki could tell she just could not get past.

"Is this about something in particular? Did something happen that I'm not aware of?" Tikki asked sweetly, trying sincerely to console her charge.

Marinette groaned and leaned back on the sofa again, forcing Tikki to let go. "No, or, I don't know." she whined. "I just feel guilty, I think. I don't like not knowing if he's okay or not."

"Then why don't you text him?" she asked, flying over to sit to the left of her face.

"I don't have his number, at least not officially." Marinette responded, moving her head to look at Tikki.

She did have his number, but that was merely courtesy of Alya, and using it had only warranted her the need to steal his phone so not to ruin her stance with him from her incredibly embarrassing voicemail. Her messaging him, especially considering he didn't have her number, would be a bit weird, if not incriminating. "And besides, even if I did it'd be kind of weird to ask, wouldn't it? I wasn't there when he was, I was Ladybug at the time."

"It was all over the news that he helped you get kids out of the school."

"I guess." she said, looking back up at the ceiling. The blankness of it did little to distract her. "But Adrien doesn't seem to realize I even exist half the time, so what would be the point?"

Tikki sighed, moving to lay next to Marinette's head. "Well, you're going to see him tomorrow morning, so I wouldn't worry about him. You'll be able to make sure he's fine then."

Marinette pursed her lips, glancing as Tikki made herself comfortable next to her, and then moved her eyes to stare out the window. The evening was coming to a close and the outside was slowly being shrouded in darkness. Soon the darkened Paris skyline would be illuminated with lights off of buildings and monuments, the brightest being the Eiffel Tower. Marinette had occasionally been out and about during that time, enjoying the nighttime sky and indulging in the sights of the city. If there was one thing that she appreciated about her abilities, it was the fact that she could take advantage of the beautiful views the city granted her, especially since she could soar around it to her heart's content.

She wouldn't be out tonight though, which was probably a good thing considering her mental state. Since she and Chat had wrapped up the akuma attack earlier that morning, there wasn't much need for patrol. Hawkmoth rarely attacked twice and it was evident that the city wasn't going to be bothered with another spectacle. As much as she appreciated the opportunity to rest though, she still kind of wished that she would be going out that evening. As irritating as he could be, being around Chat Noir was a great distraction from herself, and he was usually pretty good at taking weight off of her worries. She enjoyed their night time patrols, not just because of the scenery, but because she enjoyed being around her friend. Their miraculouses gave them a sense of freedom and fluidity that was addicting and hard to pass up, so any chance where she didn't get to have one of those moments was a little disheartening. She wondered if he felt similarly about that.

She definitely knew that she needed some worries taken off her mind tonight.

"Do you think he saw me?" Marinette asked out of nowhere.

Tikki perked up at the question. "Saw you?"

"Transform I mean, do you think he noticed?" she asked nervously.

Tikki smiled, "Who, Adrien? Marinette, you're being a worry wart. Adrien was out cold when we came in there."

"He was facing me when the transformation ended."

"That doesn't mean he saw you though. People move when they sleep." she provided thoughtfully. "You should know, you do it all the time." she playfully jeered.

Marinette ignored her. "It just makes me nervous, I really don't like that I transformed so close to somebody else. Especially Adrien." She bit her lip. "He even said something about me when we were getting out of the classroom. Why would my name come up?"

"Because you were really tired and he remembered that." Tikki answered simply. "Remember, he was really tired too."

"But he was all flustered when he first woke up."

"Aren't most people?"

"I don't know. It was just strange. It was like he recognized who I was." Marinette said with a sigh.

Tikki shook her head and got up to fly back to her spot on the desk. "I think you're overthinking this. Just try to relax and get your homework done. If everything seems normal tomorrow, then we know everything's fine."

But relaxing wasn't something she felt like she could do. The thoughts continued to wrestle with her sanity as she tried to reason with herself that Adrien was probably totally fine and likely hadn't seen anything. She was being ridiculous, right? Sure what happened was a little hectic and definitely out of her comfort zone, but there was no way he wasn't okay, right? He definitely hadn't seen her transform, right?

She wished she could just go and ask him.

Just then, an idea popped into her head, and she sat up as it crossed her mind.

"No." Tikki said suddenly from across the room.

"No what? What are you talking about?"

"I know you, Marinette. I know what you're thinking. We are not going to visit Adrien, you both have school tomorrow."

Marinette frowned at her kwami, disappointed that her idea was rejected before she even had an opportunity to voice it. "So what?"

"So, it's getting late, you still have homework to do, and you remember what your parents said about your tardiness lately. If you're late to school again tomorrow you're going to get in even more trouble. You were already almost late today."

Marinette pouted, replaying the lecture her parents had given her that afternoon about waking up late for school in her head. She rolled her eyes and pushed regardless.

"But Tikki, this is really important." she whined.

"Marinette, this is far from important, and you know it," she said, giving the girl an exasperated glance. "You don't need to check on him. You're going to see him tomorrow. Besides, he may be busy, or asleep. Wouldn't it be rude to interrupt him?"

"Chat's visited me before." she argued.

"Yes, once. And that was only because you had a date with an akuma and _you_ told him to come work with you."

Marinette paused, but nodded once in defeat. She was right about that, but that didn't mean the argument was over.

"So what? Besides, if he's not in his room or he's doing something I'll just leave, no sweat."

Tikki lolled her head to the side and crossed her arms, "And by leave you mean wait outside his window until you can see him, or until he's done?"

Marinette didn't respond, but instead gave Tikki a cheeky nervous grin.

The kwami groaned, her large head hanging back. "Do we really need to do this? Honestly, can't you just trust me?"

Marinette frowned, suddenly feeling like she was taking advantage of her small friend. Tikki was usually so open to things Marinette wanted to do, but her protests made it clear that she was making her uncomfortable. She bit her lip, remembering the few instances of time where she used her powers as Ladybug for more selfish motives. Stopping Chloe from dancing with Adrien when her friends were in danger, and though pretty unintentional, taking credit for Choe's idea to save Sabrina were a few. The miraculous wasn't terribly new to her, but she was still learning about what was and wasn't appropriate for her to do with it, and she had definitely taken advantage of her powers a few times before. Striving not to do that was important.

"I'm not going to make you do anything, Tikki. I would never." She assured, pushing herself off of her chaise and walking over to the desk. She took her hands and pushed them underneath Tikki's small form, bringing her up to her face. Tikki looked up and into Marinette's blue eyes as she spoke.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to make it sound like I want you to do something for me that you don't want to do." she said sadly.

Tikki continued to look at Marinette expectantly, and Marinette sighed.

"I probably am just being silly, but I can't shake this feeling. I just have a weird feeling about what happened today and I kind of just want to make sure that things are right with the world and that my identity's still hidden like it's supposed to be. It's going to drive me crazy otherwise."

She looked off to the side in embarrassment, "And it wouldn't hurt to be sure he's okay and doesn't hate me too."

Tikki smiled sympathetically, knowing all along that she meant well. Marinette was ridiculous, that was far from a questioned fact, but she was a good person. This wasn't her just trying to get closer to her crush for a night, it was something that was honestly and truly bothering her. Whether or not Tikki knew why she could be so excessive at times, what she did know was that Marinette wasn't going to do something for a bad reason.

"It's probably just that strong built Marinette heart inside of you. It cares a lot, maybe too much." she said, patting the bridge of Marinette's nose.

Marinette returned the smile, "We don't need to go see him, I'll be fine."

Tikki shook her head and floated from Marinette's hands, giving her a small smile. "Nah, we'll go. If it'll calm you down I'd like to just get it over with."

She gasped. "Really?" she said excitedly, her smile brightening as her eyes squinted in delight.

"Yes, but just this once, okay? You do have school tomorrow, and if you wake up late again I'm never going to let you hear the end of it."

Marinette beamed, "I won't, I promise!"

Tikki smirked slightly, "Alrighty then, let's go check on him."

"Okay!" she replied confidently. "Tikki, spots on!"

* * *

"Everything alright, blondie?" asked Plagg, flying over to his charge's sullen form laying face first on top of his black comforted bed. He scanned the boy's body, noticing one hand gripping his hair while the other rested on top of the pillow holding up his face. His green eyes were gloomy, staring at his phone resting on the pillow with nothing on the screen.

"I'm alright, Plagg. Thanks." Adrien assured unconvincingly. Plagg raised an eyebrow in response.

"That didn't really sound alright. What's wrong with you? You've been a sourpuss ever since the akuma fight ended today."

Adrien glanced up with a raised eyebrow at his kwami. "A sourpuss?"

"Yeah, like all you've done is lay in bed and mope. What's the issue? You all bummed out because Ladybug saw you drooling on your desk?"

"No… what?" He pushed his face up. "Wait, I was drooling?" He asked, startled. His face began to feel flush.

"Heck if I know," Plagg laughed. "But that'd be pretty funny if you were."

Adrien groaned and slammed his head back down, the thought of him looking like a slob in front of Ladybug of all people tainting his mind and making his bad mood even worse.

That wasn't really the issue though, or at least not until Plagg brought it up. It was more so about the fact that he had felt pretty useless after the akuma attack that morning.

For one, he was asleep when the attack started, meaning he wasn't able to transform into Chat and actually help out in the beginning. Two, Ladybug had to wake him up, which was embarrassing as hell, and then he ended up getting himself attacked by her. And three, even when he was Chat he couldn't even help Ladybug using catacalysm thanks to his brash decisions from earlier. All and all he felt like a real mess.

"I'm just tired," Adrien sighed, sinking his head into his pillow even further. "Today was a long day, and considering I barely got any sleep last night, plus an akuma battle this morning, I'm pretty wiped out."

Plagg flew in front of Adrien's face, the sudden vibrancy of the kwami's green eyes in front of him surprising him into pushing his head off the pillow a little.

"Well if that's the case then maybe you wouldn't mind getting me some more camembert, yeah? Since I know making me happy would definitely make you happy too."

His charge smirked, "Nice try," and placed his head back down onto his pillow, earning a disappointed groan from the kwami.

Adrien had been mulling over the events of the day some. Volume had been a somewhat difficult akuma, but luckily for them she was nothing out of the ordinary. Just another person who was angry over something and let it get out of hand. He was glad to see that she was alright after the events of the attack and luckily she was forgiven pretty easily. He hated that Ladybug had to jet off and he was left with making sure everyone was alright, but it wasn't something he really minded, keeping his friends and fellow Parisians safe was his job. He just wished she could have stayed a little bit longer, especially considering he knew he wouldn't be seeing her that night.

Aside from that, the day did come with some interesting yet not unwelcome moments. Adrien had been able to interact with Ladybug for a little chunk of the day, not only as Chat Noir like usual, but also as himself. It was an uncommon occurrence for sure, but one that he hardly disliked.

He did find it interesting though that Ladybug seemed to be so much more flustered around him than she usually was when he was Chat Noir, just as well as she was a lot more timid. The attitude change was striking, and Adrien couldn't help but over analyze it some, not that he didn't over analyze any and all interaction with Ladybug on a near daily basis.

Part of him wanted to chalk it up to the fact that he was a star, but so was she, and she was usually so confident in herself and everything that she did, no matter what the situation or who the person she was dealing with was. It was a side he had honestly never seen of her before, and one that he wondered how he could see again. The woman he had set his heart on seemed to have so many complex layers to her, and he truly wanted to unravel them all.

But of course, that was going to have to wait. He wanted nothing more than to respect her privacy. As much as he wanted to know who she was underneath, he would have to wait until she was willing to show him. It was the right thing to do.

But it was still almost unbearable.

"You're not just gunna lay in your bed all night are you?" Plagg complained.

Adrien laughed, "Isn't that kind of what you do when it's night time?"

"That's not what I mean and you know it. The night's still young, I'm bored, and all you've been doing is staring at your phone for the past hour. You don't even have it on!" he whined.

Adrien sighed. To be honest he was pretty bored too, but that was pretty normal on a night that he couldn't go out with Ladybug. Usually after dinner time he was alone, left to his own devices to entertain himself, and often times those devices weren't the least bit entertaining.

Often times the highlight of Adrien's night was when he got to go out with his lady and enjoy spending time outside of the house. The freedom he was able to feel being Chat was something he cherished above all else, and having to put it to rest at any point of time was difficult for him at times, especially when it took away time that he could be spending with Ladybug. Of course, the two of them had spent a long day together, but no time could really be enough for Adrien it seemed. As much as he wanted to respect her wishes to give them both some rest for the night, he wanted to be around her and outside of his bedroom just as much. He wanted to be able to escape reality, just for a little while.

But honestly when did he not?

"What do you suppose I do?" he asked. "I can't go see Ladybug tonight because we don't do patrol on akuma days."

"That doesn't mean we can't go out and have fun. We could run around Paris, and you could take us to the store, and then you could buy me some more-"

"What makes you think that me buying you cheese that you don't need is something fun for me?"

"Who said anything about you?" Plagg sneered. "I said _I_ was bored, I'm not all that worried about you. You seen pretty preoccupied over _your lady_."

Adrien smirked, "What can I say? I'm smitten.

"How can you be? You don't even know the girl." Plagg said, rolling his eyes.

"But I may one day." He corrected.

Plagg scoffed. "Yeah right, and I'm going to become the President of France one day."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adrien asked with an eyebrow raise.

Plagg shook his head, "I just see things, and notice things, that you seem to not ever notice and it blows my mind."

"See things and notice things…? Wait, do you know who she is?" Adrien asked frantically.

"Maybe I do, and maybe I don't. What concern of that is yours?" he said with a smirk and a shrug.

Adrien glared back, "You don't actually know."

"I might not, but even if I did I sure wouldn't tell you about it. Your dense brain can work on figuring that out without me."

Adrien groaned and placed his face fully into his pillow, his mind now filled with even more questions surrounding the situation.

Just then Plagg's ears began to twitch.

"What was that?" he said suddenly, flying away from the bed.

"What?" Adrien asked, raising his head and pushing his body off of the bed with his hands.

Plagg shushed him quickly, moving closer to the center of the room, a somewhat skeptical look shining in his eyes. Adrien moved himself off of the bed and joined Plagg, trying his best to hear whatever it was he was noticing. He'd always hoped that maybe a little bit of Plagg's cat powers were rubbing off on him just a little, but it seemed like whatever the kwami was noticing, Adrien couldn't pick up on it.

Plagg jolted suddenly and flew off in a hurry, "Someone's coming!"

"What? Who?" Adrien asked, almost panicked.

It was too late, Plagg was gone in hiding. Adrien grew immediately concerned as he couldn't hear footsteps coming down the long hallway towards his bedroom. If someone was coming, where in the world were they coming from?

A sudden few rhythmical taps on Adrien's window caused him to jump, and he quickly turned around to see the perpetrator.

Relief and surprise filled his body when Ladybug's masked blue eyes met the gaze of his own.

"Wh- Ladybug?" he asked, hardly believing the words coming out of his mouth.

Well, this day just kept getting more and more interesting.

Ladybug's mouth moved, but Adrien couldn't hear what she was saying. He stared at her almost blindly for a moment before realizing she was asking for permission to enter his bedroom.

Adrien stammered, "Oh… oh! Wait, hold on a second!" he shouted, moving towards the large window she was hanging beside. He fiddled with the latch at the bottom of it for a moment, shaking with nerves the entire time, before unlocking it and purposely swinging the window open into his room, so not to push Ladybug further outside with it. She acted on the entrance being granted to her and swung herself into the room, landing with a graceful plop onto the hardwood flooring and retracting her yoyo only a second later, reattaching it to her hip. Adrien was stunned into place at the sight.

Ladybug took a moment to gather her surroundings. The room she stood in was dark and empty, though still large and imposing. She felt herself wondering how it must feel to be surrounded by such expensive things and such a large room, but that was hardly what she was there for. She finally took the time to look at Adrien, whose expression was starstruck. She could already feel her face heating up as their gaze met.

"H-Hi, Adrien!" she said with an excited wave, her smile bright and cheery. Unbeknownst to him she was using every ounce of self positivity she could to keep herself from acting out in a frantic sputter.

Adrien was still a bit too stunned to speak. Ladybug, _the_ Ladybug, was standing in his room. She was there on her own accord, unannounced and uninvited, not that he didn't want her there. He wasn't exactly sure how to act or what to think about what was happening in front of him.

She was unbelievably jittery, but luckily so was he, so he didn't really notice. The whole journey there left her nerves to grow more and more uneasy as she drew closer to his home, and once or twice she considered turning around and going home. Despite that, she knew that she had already put Tikki through a decent amount of hounding, and having to go half the way to Adrien's just to turn around and go back home after all that was sure to do nothing but earn a scolding from her kwami. Besides, all she was doing was stopping by to check on him and see that he was doing well, which she could now clearly see he was. Mission accomplished, right?

Ladybug began to notice his lack of response along with the silence of the large room, causing her to feel and appear far more sheepish, her built up confidence dying out like a candle's flame in the wind.

"U-um, did I come at a bad time? I-I can leave, if you don't w-want me here." she stammered.

He broke out of his stupor at her comment and noticed her facial expression, alarming him. "Wh-what! No no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- I mean. I just didn't expect you to be here."

She sighed in relief and found herself giggling at his nervousness, to which he also felt relieved. He also noted that he found the action undeniably cute and that he'd love to make her laugh like that again.

"I can't blame you for that. I just kind of felt like making a big announcement of myself would probably make visiting you a bit difficult."

"Of course, totally." Adrien replied timidly, doing his absolute best to reassure her. "Trust me, it's no problem. You being here is not a problem, not at all."

She smiled sincerely, feeling her confidence rising once again. "That's good, I'm glad I didn't interrupt anything."

He returned the expression. "So, what did you come here for anyways?" he asked, allowing one of his hands to scratch the back of his head.

Ladybug paused, her facial expression turning ghostly and suddenly feeling very aware of how incriminating a state she was in. It was ridiculous, she knew exactly what she was there for and had a decent enough reason to be there, but for whatever reason the question made her feel jumpy, like she didn't have a reason to be there at all. As Marinette she supposed she didn't have a reason, but in this moment she needed to remember that she was not Marinette, she was Ladybug and had every reason to want to check on him. Doing her best to hold back her stammering, she took in a silent breath and composed herself to the best of her ability, committing a great effort to coat on her Ladybug charm.

"I-I was worried about you. I know I saw you run off from the school, but since you got attacked I was worried and wanted to make sure you got your voice back, which I can hear you did, and um I'm sorry about that whole mess..." she trailed off. Her head shot up as though she remembered something, "Oh! But yeah, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That attack today was kind of scary and I didn't get to check on you after Chat and I beat Volume because I was running out of time. It was really bothering me, so I just wanted to come check on you."

She had been talking so quickly that she was forced to take in a huge breath of air at the finish of her sentence, which had minimal effect in calming her nerves. She wanted to verbally berate herself, but did her best to solidify her stance and look as composed as she possibly could in front of him, all the while silently cursing herself for the lack of charm her self titled "Ladybug charm" added to her speech.

Adrien found himself feeling rather amused all the while. It was odd seeing her so flustered, and he couldn't say that he didn't like it.

He could feel his heart warming ever so slowly at her words. She wanted to check on him? That seemed out of the realm of reality to him, but he supposed he had been looking to escape reality earlier hadn't he? He'd never had many interactions with Ladybug as a civilian, and it seemed almost out of place that she would go out of her way to check on him. After all, wasn't he just a normal citizen like everyone else in Paris? What exactly was it that made him so special? He had barely managed to get a few sentences out to her he had been so nervous around her that day, so she didn't have any real reason to be invested in him.

Of course, he really felt he shouldn't have expected any less. Ladybug was a caring, wholesome girl. She always had been and always would be. He could easily accept the idea that she would go out and visit people who had been affected by akumas later after their battles. In fact, it was very possible that was part of the reason she didn't care to do patrols following akumas. She was that kind of person. Always willing to put others above herself, even when she probably needed rest, and make sure everyone was doing well. He admired her endlessly for that. She didn't have much of a reason to care, but she did, and that was really all the mattered to him.

So maybe he wasn't special, but he sure felt like it in this moment. After all, his lady had gone out of her way to visit him specifically.

"Wow, thanks for checking on me. I really appreciate it." he said sincerely.

Ladybug beamed, her cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink. "You're welcome! I'm so glad to see you're doing well." She looked him up and down, happily noting the lack of bumps or bruises along his perfect skin. She blushed as she noticed that she was looking him over and immediately stopped, not wanting to attract that kind of attention to herself. "I-I'm also sorry that I had to wake you up. It's my bad if you felt like it was a bit excessive, I just didn't know how else to do it."

He felt his face turn red but he laughed anyways, "Don't be. When I fall asleep I'm usually out cold. It takes a lot of alarms to get me out of bed."

She perked up, "How long were you out before I woke you up? Did you not wake up when the class escaped?"

He shrugged, "I have no clue. It was basically like I was in class one minute, and you were standing in front of me the next. That happens sometimes, I try not to but I fall asleep in class pretty easily nowadays." he said with an embarrassed side glance.

She internally breathed a huge sigh of relief at his words and the genuinity of them, now fully confident that her secret identity was safe and sound. Now she could focus on other important things.

"I also just wanted to thank you." she said. "You really helped me out getting those kids out of there and giving me something to do while I waited on Chat. It would have been a lot harder to do by myself, so I was really glad to have you around."

Adrien's heart skipped a beat.

"W-what do you mean?" he interjected. "You always seem to have the situation handled."

Ladybug paused, feeling a bit jolted by the assumption made of her. She looked down, feeling embarrassed, "Kind of, I don't know. I was a little flustered for sure. It was a lot easier to handle with you around, so I really appreciate it."

Adrien felt awestruck. Ladybug was thanking him? Not just Chat Noir, _him._ He didn't even do that much and Ladybug was appreciating the fact that he was there for her. He could have been floating he was so elated.

"Wow, um, you're so welcome. I'm glad I was able to do something. I hate that Chat Noir wasn't there right away." he added, hoping the attempt at a half apology from his other half would suffice her for the time being.

Ladybug smiled, "I wasn't too worried. He probably just got held up. He did show up with his voice gone so I'm sure he was just protecting some students on the way." She playfully rolled her eyes, "That kitty, always getting himself into trouble."

Adrien could feel the relief wash over him, deeply appreciating the pure sincerity in her smile. He'd definitely apologize to her as Chat later, profusely at that, but it was definitely nice to know that she knew he wasn't screwing around. He felt so lucky that she was so trusting and forgiving. Knowing how often he screwed up, he really needed her to be.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked, deciding to move the conversation along. "I hope Volume didn't give you a lot of trouble today."

He laughed internally, knowing that while she wasn't an easy akuma by any means they had luckily not had much issue taking care of her.

"Yeah, I'm completely fine. Maybe just a bit tired, but fine. How are you?" she paused. "Wait, I already asked that, didn't I? Ugh, I'm not good at this." she whined, hands covering her eyes exasperatedly.

Adrien laughed, "Don't worry about it. I'm amazed I've kept it together as long as I have. It's not everyday you get to have your favorite superhero visit you."

Ladybug could feel her face burning and her insides heating up.

"I-I'm your favorite?"

She didn't really know why she was so surprised. What boy didn't fawn over her and her skin tight suit? She was basically the definition of badass eye candy.

The look she gave him caught him off guard.

"I-I mean… Yeah! Of course! I mean I love Chat Noir too. I think he's great. Super funny guy."

 _Nice cover there, Adrien._ He thought sarcastically.

Ladybug smiled, but in such a bright way that it made Adrien's heart just melt away. The admiration really mattered to her one way or another, and it was incredibly endearing to him that something so small as his own admiration for her would affect her so visibly.

"I appreciate it." she said, her tone so sweet and affectionate that Adrien felt it would give him a sugar rush. "Chat and I always appreciate our fans, it makes us feel like what we do is completely worth it. I know we seem so confident and showboaty sometimes, but we would be nothing without the people of Paris behind us."

 _Couldn't agree more, my lady,_ he thought, quietly loving the fact that she mentioned his alter ego. "You're welcome."

They found themselves standing in silence for a moment, not knowing exactly what to look at. Adrien found himself trying his best to look at anything but her, lest his blush cover his face anymore obviously. He was thankful for the fact that it was starting to get really dark outside and he hadn't bothered to turn on any lamps in his room, thus hiding the color in his face with much more ease.

Ladybug took the time to glance about the room again, her eyes having adjusted to the dark and now noticing just how much more empty the room felt despite it being full of things any boy young or old would kill to have. Each item her gaze fell over felt more expensive than the next, from his gigantic computer monitors on one side of the room to the oversized flat screen television that sat a few feet away. She was enamored by the sights, but couldn't help feeling the emptiness behind the gifts littering the room. She wondered if they were distractions more so than they were things that Adrien actually cared to use, at least considering the fact that none of them were in use at all at such a dead point in the evening.

Suddenly desperate to end the silence, she tried her best to come up with something interesting to talk about.

"Nice room you have here." she said a bit too nervously.

 _Wow, Marinette. Really reeled him in with that one._ she cursed.

"Huh? Oh, this?" he said, motioning towards the large room before them. "I mean, it's alright, a bit over the top if you ask me."

"Seems that way." she said, taking a few small steps away from the window with her arms folded behind her back. She gazed around the room once more, taking in all the items around her, some of which she could feel traces of envy over. "I mean geez, you have a freaking climbing wall, six different monitors, and a skateboard ramp. I'm pretty impressed. I'll probably have to start convincing my mom to buy me one. It's every teenager's dream."

He laughed. "More like seven year old's dream."

"Do you not skateboard?" she asked, looking back.

"I did, once, when I was like seven. So that was a present of sorts. I used it maybe three times, fell down a little too hard, and then the skateboard was revoked. Can't get any bruises for the shoots after all." he added with an eye roll.

She smiled and laughed a little, turning away from him. "Guess I shouldn't expect much different, you are an Agreste after all."

"Ha, an Agreste indeed." he scoffed.

She looked back at him, legitimately confused. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Adrien shrugged, "A little bit maybe. My father expects a lot from me, which I guess is a no brainer when you live with one of the hardest working men in Paris, but I kind of feel like a lot of times he doesn't really care about the things that I want to do. It's all about him, and then he just kind of pawns me off with all this stuff to keep me going."

"What do you mean?"

He smirked sadly, "Oh Adrien, I know you didn't want to do that model shoot, but in return here's a new computer to show you my appreciation for doing that for me. Adrien, I know jousting can be a chore sometimes but it does help keep you in shape, so for your sore muscles I got you the latest mattress that helps with that, best money can buy. Kind of gets a little old after a while."

Ladybug paused, drinking in the sullen expression crossing Adrien's face. So her theory was right, it was a lot more about distracting Adrien than it was about things he actually wanted. She almost felt betrayed. Adrien had always looked so genuine in his photos from his modeling shoots, like he was enjoying himself. And honestly, maybe he was to an extent, but the long hours and over exertion was probably bound to make him a bit tired of it all at some point. No wonder he was always so tired in class. She never would have even guessed that this was how Mr. Agreste got away with it though. It hurt even more to know Adrien was aware of the tactic.

"That's not really fair." she argued. "Have you ever tried to talk to him about it?"

He laughed solemnly, "I love when people ask me that. I wish you guys had any idea of how he acts."

She frowned, disliking his tone, and he quickly noticed and jumped on it

"No no no, I didn't say that to be rude I swear. I'm sorry." He frowned and looked down at the floor, placing his hands in his pockets. "It's just, talking doesn't do anything. It took me forever for him to even let me start going to school, and for that to happen I had to disobey him altogether and basically force him to let me." He gazed back up at her sadly. "It definitely doesn't help how he treats my scheduling though. I swear he makes it worse on me so I'll quit school and be stuck here in my cage like he wants."

"That's ridiculous!" she shouted, quickly covering her mouth with her hands as he looked at her, startled. "I-I mean. Sorry, I just think that's completely unfair." She held her right arm with her left hand and looked at him sadly. "I really don't like that he treats you that way."

Adrien shrugged, which honestly hurt her even more. Seeing him so apathetic didn't help to sell that it wasn't something he had been dealing with for a long time. She could only imagine just how long it had been.

"It's pretty annoying, but honestly what can I do about it? Complaining just makes things worse."

Ladybug was at a loss. Knowing that he was so used to it at this point was heartbreaking. He couldn't find it in him to even care anymore, and instead just chose to keep on suffering through it to appease his father. It drove her mad.

"Have you ever tried telling anyone else about it?"

Again with a damn shrug.

"I've tried to a few times, but like I said, it isn't really worth it. Nothing ever seems to get done." He sighed, pushing to let it go. "I figure if I just go on living like this until I can get out of the house, maybe it'll all be worth it in the end."

That was a bit too disheartening for her to hear.

"You could always fight it." she heard herself say.

That perked his interest.

"Fight it?"

Ladybug winced at her own words being said back to her. What exactly was she getting him into?

"W-Well, you said that when you wanted to go to school you just started doing it, and eventually he just kind of had to let you. So what's stopping you from doing it again?"

He looked at her like she had three heads, making her feel smaller than she already did for even suggesting the idea.

She fell back, "I-I'm sorry. I really don't mean to impose. I just hate to see someone I lo- I mean," she faltered, "someone I think is pretty cool going through a hard time."

He crossed his arms, giving her a sullen glance. "It's just not really that easy. It wasn't easy the first time either. Sadly as much as we try we can't run away from responsibilities and things we're meant to do." He stared at his right hand and clenched it, "I have my coping mechanisms anyways, so it's not so bad."

Her face drooped as her heart ached, staring at this boy she admired with so much of her heart and knowing that he felt so trapped. Had he always felt like this? It wasn't fair for someone she saw as so perfect to feel so cast aside, all feelings and wants disregarded.

"You don't deserve to be pushed aside like you don't matter, and I for one think you matter." she assured. She scratched the back of her head, trying to think of how to word her praises, lest she incriminate herself. " I-I know it might not mean a whole lot considering I don't know you that well and all, but for what it's worth, from what I've seen from you today you're clearly a great person."

The air between them seemed to warm as Adrien took in the sincere compliment. Ladybug didn't know him, or at least she didn't know him as Adrien, but she still felt the need to make him feel better. She still cared enough to tell him that he mattered. Why did she care so much? He was just a normal civilian to her, wasn't he?

God though, he never wanted that feeling she gave him to stop.

Adrien smiled at her somberly, "I appreciate that. Thank you, Ladybug."

She smiled back warmly, "You're welcome."

She began to notice the silence between them again, and felt the nerves creeping back up into her throat. Luckily, she felt the urge to combat them rather than accept them.

"I-I guess I should go then. I don't want to leave you up too late or anything." she said kindly, giving a small motion towards the open window she'd come through. "It was really great to see you again, I'm really glad you're alright. Hopefully we'll run into each other again sometime."

She unlatched her yoyo from her hip, moving towards the window and readying to aim it at a nearby building.

"Wait!" she heard behind her, prompting her to jump and turn back around from the window to look at the boy calling behind her. Her gaze was met with Adrien's green eyes burning into her own, which sent a shiver down her spine.

"Uh, s-sorry." she stammered. "Do you need something?"

Adrien paused, not knowing for sure what exactly he wanted to say. For whatever reason he'd found himself in this position where he was dumping all this personal information onto his partner, and it felt so, well, natural. Sure, he and his lady had committed to personal conversations before, but certainly not to this extent. It was surprising, and he couldn't exactly garner how he felt about it, but the feeling was definitely positive.

He found himself wanting more, he didn't want her to leave.

"Do… do you have to go so soon?" he asked innocently, not sure if he was even close to in the right for asking.

She smiled back sadly, "Believe me, I'd love to, but I probably need to get back home soon."

He blushed, "Oh, of course! No I don't want to keep you from heading home if you need to, nope! Not at all." he trailed off. "Uh, I just uh, I don't know…"

She stared at him expectantly, feeling nervous all the while as he tried to regain his train of thought.

"I just thought, maybe…" he blathered, doing everything he could to get coherent thoughts out of his mouth. "Would you maybe like to come back and visit again sometime?"

The pause between them was so intense it felt as though a pin being dropped on the floor could be heard as loudly as a jet taking off.

Adrien immediately began to berate himself for even bothering to ask. How could he think that Ladybug would even bother to give him the time of day in her likely super busy schedule? Hanging out with him was not a priority. She had a life to live and akumas to fight and-

"Maybe one day." she said, smile bright as the sun. He couldn't see it, but her face was so red her mask practically blended in.

He stood there and tried to register what she'd said. _Maybe one day._

He beamed, "O-okay! Sure, if that happens I'm looking forward to it."

She smiled back, "Me too, goodnight!" she said a bit quickly.

And just like that, she was out the window and flying through the Paris skyline.

Adrien watched her in awe, staring out the window until he could no longer see a single trace of her red suit being outlined by the star dotted sky. He in particular found himself marveling at a quick moment where her silhouette was perfectly illuminated by the Eiffel Tower, loving the way the lights ever so quickly danced around her form before she left the canvas blank of its beautiful focus.

"Wow," Adrien heard from across the room. "A super funny guy? Really? You take a second to gush about yourself to Ladybug and the only thing you can say to her is that you're funny? Not to mention that I would consider that to be a pretty heavy assumption."

"Shut up, Plagg. You couldn't let me enjoy this for one second, could you?" he asked with a huff.

"I'm just saying," he continued, floating into his charge's field of vision, "you could have said anything about how you're so heroic and handsome or whatever, and you go with funny. You really know how to catch 'em while they're biting, huh?"

Adrien groaned, walking away from his kwami and moving back over to his bed.

"I wasn't about to go on and gush about how great I am and blow my cover. I was under enough pressure as it is."

"Yeah yeah, sure." Plagg chided. "It's just not every day your dream girl jumps into your bedroom, I just feel like you could have used that opportunity a little better."

Adrien leaned back onto his bed and sighed, "Yeah, it definitely was a little out of the ordinary." He smiled, "I certainly didn't mind it though."

Plagg rolled his eyes, "Of course you didn't. And look at you, going in for the second date already. Man, if only she was that willing when you guys are out fighting."

Adrien made a noise of disapproval, "That's different, when we're out on missions and akuma fights we're doing our jobs and are focused on that. I don't typically expect my flirting to work." He sat up, "Besides, she didn't give a definite answer. She's busy and has a life, and so do I. I just thought that maybe, if she wants, it'd be nice to hang out with her again. It was… really nice."

"Well don't get too comfortable with the idea. Whether she knows the truth or not, any miraculous holder visiting a civilian is kind of dangerous. Hawkmoth has ears and eyes all over the city, I'd hate for either one of you brats to get hurt because you're being dumb."

Adrien groaned, "Don't start getting onto me, I just thought I'd ask it's not like I begged her to hang out with me."

Plagg shrugged, "Just keep it in mind, kid. Glad you got a night to hang out with your lady, possibly more glad that you blew it because it made me laugh. And now since you're not feeling so down anymore, maybe you want to-"

"I'm not getting you anymore cheese, Plagg." Adrien interrupted, collapsing back onto the bed with his arm over his eyes.

"Oh come on!" the small cat whined.

* * *

"Well, that went well!" Tikki encouraged as she was released from Marinette's earrings.

Marinette nodded once in agreement, happy to finally be back inside after the arduous trip back home. Her nerves were in a knot, having been twisted and tangled in the events preceding her arrival to her pink coated bedroom. Now she felt like she could start to breathe again.

"Adrien seemed to really like you being there!" Tikki added as she flew over to her spot on the desk.

Or not.

"Oh my gosh really?" Marinette asked in a frantic sputter, her eyes piercing into Tikki's as stars practically danced throughout.

Tikki laughed, "Of course! Like he said, it's not every day your favorite superhero just comes to visit you."

Marinette erupted into a fit of giggles, slamming into her rolling chair at her desk, "Oh that was so exciting! I had such a nice time seeing him and I get to see him tomorrow too!" She threw her hands up and spun around, "Everything's just so great!"

She was over the moon, quickly shooting up and pacing around her room, trying to focus on getting herself together to get ready for bed, but failing somewhat miserably. Her mind was clouded with how thrilling it was to knock on Adrien's window, the way he looked at her when she came in, how easily he talked to her. It was like a dream come true.

She desperately wished she could do it all over again.

Tikki smiled, "I'm glad that you're not worried anymore," but her smile quickly disappeared just as soon as it had come and formed into a simple line. "But Marinette, I need to talk to you about something."

Marinette paused her elation.

"What is it?"

Her kwami sighed, looking up at her charge. "You know that we probably shouldn't do that again, right?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "Do what again?"

"Visit him," she answered simply. "Visiting civilians like that is dangerous. We could easily put him in danger if Hawkmoth finds out and sees that you two are friends. He'd see Adrien as a weakness, maybe even do something to him to threaten you into giving up your earrings. We can't let that happen, to you or to him."

Marinette looked away sadly, moving off to her closet to grab sleepwear for the night.

"I… I know that." she said, grabbing soft pink cotton from the top shelf. "That's why I said what I did. I didn't want him to think that it was going to happen anytime soon, if at all."

"I'm sorry, Marinette." Tikki said sympathetically. "I know you like spending time with him however you can, but this is to keep both of you safe."

Marinette turned and smiled back, "I know, it's okay. It's important that we keep everyone safe."

With pajamas in tow, Marinette made her way over to Tikki, offering her hand to her which Tikki quickly flew into and rested upon. With a sweet smile Marinette brought her hand up to her face and cupped the other carefully around it to give Tikki a gentle hug.

"Thank you, Tikki. It was really nice of you to let me do that."

Tikki delightedly returned the hug.

"Anything to see you smile, Marinette!"

With a giggle, Marinette pulled her hand away from her face. "How about some cookies then? Double chocolate chip sounds good to me."

* * *

 **AN: Thank you all for being so patient waiting for this. I've been in the midst of studying for finals and ripping my hair out, but I swear to you that I'm trying to make sure this story is coming out. Not having a beta makes things a little more difficult because I'm doubting myself a bit, especially in these first few chapters, but fear not, we're about to get truckin' on! (Side note, anyone wanna beta a Miraculous fan fiction, lol).**


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